Map (parallel pattern)

Map is an idiom in parallel computing where a simple operation is applied to all elements of a sequence, potentially in parallel.[1] It is used to solve embarrassingly parallel problems: those problems that can be decomposed into independent subtasks, requiring no communication/synchronization between the subtasks except a join or barrier at the end.

Some parallel programming systems, such as OpenMP and Cilk, have language support for the map pattern in the form of a parallel for loop;[2] languages such as OpenCL and CUDA support elemental functions (as "kernels") at the language level. The map pattern is typically combined with other parallel design patterns. For example, map combined with category reduction gives the MapReduce pattern.[3]:106–107